Pulsed fiber lasers are typically configured to generate high power optical pulses for various specialized materials processing applications. In some applications pulses are required to be delivered accurately to regions of a target so as to form patterns. The pulses may also need to be applied at different powers, repetition rates, pulse energies, pulse burst frequencies, or with other laser parameters varied according to process requirements. In order to deliver pulses to different regions of the target, pulsed fiber laser output beams are energized and de-energized (i.e., turned on and off) with a gate signal so that output beams are delivered only to selected regions to be processed. Often it is found that the rising edge dynamics of the pulsed fiber laser output beams can vary considerably during operation, leading to poor or inconsistent performance. Accordingly, a need remains for methods, apparatus, and systems without these drawbacks.